Tip of the Week — 8/23/08

Posted in Gardening Tips on August 25 2008, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Cunning Caryopteris

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education at The New York Botanical Garden.

High on my agenda these days is using plants that benefit the environment while also doing the work I need a good plant to do, which is to create a beautiful garden. Caryopteris or blue beard fits this criterion.

It is not a particularly needy plant; it doesn’t require copious amounts of fertilizer or water—in fact it likes good drainage and moderate to lean soil.

Caryopteris is a magnet for wildlife: Bees and butterflies cover the flowers while deer show no interest and leave it intact.

Finally, a bonus for the shrub world—it flowers in August, long after most woody plants have finished flowering for the season.

It has a nice open structure that makes it an adaptable companion in any mixed border. In one location we have it snuggling up to a Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’. The graceful blue beard’s loose branches would also spill nicely into any small- to medium-size ornamental grass, making the two a lovely late-season pair.

I cut this shrub back to a one- to two-foot framework in mid-April to keep it flowering freely and to maintain a compact three-to-four-foot fountain of pale-blue to deep-purple flowers for a late season display.